The employers of the Defense Industry celebrate the rain of millions: “We are starting a path of hope for a stable horizon”
The Industry that develops Defense and Security technology in Spain recognizes that such an important investment has never been made in this sector as that made by the Government of Spain.
The clearest person to recognize this was Indra’s CEO, Ignacio Mataix: “In the 20 years I’ve been in the sector, this is one of the biggest budgetary efforts, motivated by the geopolitical moment, but also by the need to promote a key industry”. This technology company -whose largest shareholder is the holding company public Sepi- celebrates this 25% budget increase “because it is very good news” which shows, according to Mataix, that the Defense budget “is always an investment, not an expense, its multiplier effect for employment, together with the duality technology, make it essential for leading countries to protect them to the maximum”.
Indra, which together with Airbus (in Germany) and Dassault (in France) leads the billionaire program for the air combat system of the future (FCAS), believes that this investment of 4,900 million euros for the Special Armament Program (PEA) is “an incentive to attract talent to the security industry in Spain”.
A reading also shared by Navantia, “this defense budget increase is positive because it will strengthen national security and democratic values,” Javier Romero, director of strategy for this company, tells SER. The contribution of this company public – belonging to the State Society of Industrial Participations – to the GDP of the industry is 1%, “for each Navantia job another 6 or 7 jobs are generated in other types of suppliers”, hence they are also expectant before the contracts that may arise.
Other leading companies such as AICOX – with more than 30 years of experience supplying integrated systems for Defense and Security Forces – understand that such a large injection in the sector “above all will improve the quality of employment and also the retention of talent that we are losing very quickly. In addition, it will consolidate the future of the smaller companies because “if we accompany the budgets with production plans, these objectives can be achieved”, says its president, Carlos Laborda, convinced that this increase in the Defense budget “is essential for the development of Spain” because it will allow companies in the sector “to be at the current technological cutting edge in Spain”.
In 2019, Defense and Security technology companies had a turnover of more than 13,000 million euros, exported 71% of their products and generated 57,600 highly-qualified technical jobs. The employers’ association that represents these companies is the Spanish Association of Defense, Security, Aeronautics and Space Technology Companies (TEDAE). “There has never been an increase like this, we can only assess this new budget with enthusiasm, with hope, because this increase is very positive,” TEDAE president Ricardo Martí acknowledges to SER.
